The tighter spending and cost efficiency strategies adopted by national oil companies (NOCs) around the world in response to the 2014-16 oil price collapse will largely remain in place as prices recover, says Moody's Investors Service in a new report that examines how changes in policy and structure since the slump will affect some the largest NOCs in the near future. "Even though strategies for each NOC depend on a number of factors such as the relationship with their national governments and prices in local markets, national oil companies overall have strived to cut costs, adjust growth strategies or sell assets as much as non-sponsored private oil companies have done," says Steve Wood, Moody's Managing Director for the Oil & Gas Team. In Latin America, where corruption investigations in Brazil and energy reform in Mexico affected companies more than the drop in oil prices, both Petrobras and PEMEX have slashed capital spending.

Today, Norwegian oil giant Statoil will officially rebrand as Equinor. Why? “A name with ‘oil’ as a component would increasingly be a disadvantage. None of our competitors has that,” Eldar Saetre, Statoil’s CEO, told Reuters. “It served us really well for 50 years, I don’t think it will be the best name for the next…

Shareholders in Norway's largest company, Statoil (STL.OL), will approve on Tuesday the board's proposal to drop "oil" from its name as its seeks to diversify its business and attract young talent concerned about fossil fuels' impact on climate change. From Wednesday, the majority state-owned company will change its 46-year-old name to Equinor and trade on the Oslo Exchange under the new ticker EQNR. The oil and gas company said the name change was a natural step after it decided last year to become a "broad energy" firm, investing up to 15-20 percent of annual capital expenditure in "new energy solutions" by 2030, mostly in offshore wind.

Shareholders in Norway's largest company, Statoil (STL.OL), will approve on Tuesday the board's proposal to drop "oil" from its name as its seeks to diversify its business and attract young talent concerned about fossil fuels' impact on climate change. From Wednesday, the majority state-owned company will change its 46-year-old name to Equinor and trade on the Oslo Exchange under the new ticker EQNR. The oil and gas company said the name change was a natural step after it decided last year to become a "broad energy" firm, investing up to 15-20 percent of annual capital expenditure in "new energy solutions" by 2030, mostly in offshore wind.

WARSAW/GDYNIA (Reuters) - State-controlled PGE (PGE.WA) has abandoned its leading role in plans to build Poland's first nuclear power station as it focuses on new wind farms in the Baltic Sea, two sources said. Two other sources said state-run refiner PKN Orlen (PKN.WA) could take on PGE's role. PGE, the largest Polish power group, announced a nearly $10 billion offshore wind project in March but has also been responsible for the nuclear project.

Oil firms, including Norway's Statoil, U.S.' Anadarko Petroleum Corp, China's CNOOC and Malaysia's Petronas, have shown interest in Argentina's auction this year of offshore blocks for exploration and production, the country's energy minister said on Wednesday. Argentina is still defining the blocks to be included in its auction, expected to receive bids in late November. The South American nation is also giving incentives for oil companies exploring at its large Vaca Muerta shale play to move from pilot to full development phase.

Norway's Aker BP (AKERBP.OL), partly owned by oil major BP (BP.L), beat quarterly earnings forecasts on Monday, helped by record output and higher oil prices, and said it may drill more wells this year than previously planned. The company, controlled by a Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Roekke, is focusing more on developing its existing business after growing via a series of acquisitions, including last year’s purchase of Hess (HES.N) assets for $2 billion (1.5 billion pounds).

Norway's Aker BP, partly owned by oil major BP, beat quarterly earnings forecasts on Monday, helped by record output and higher oil prices, and said it may drill more wells this year than previously planned. The company, controlled by a Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Roekke, is focusing more on developing its existing business after growing via a series of acquisitions, including last year’s purchase of Hess assets for $2 billion. At 1000 GMT, Aker BP shares were up 6.4 percent at 282 Norwegian crowns.

LONDON/OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's Statoil (STL.OL) said it aims to cut its carbon footprint more aggressively as measures to reduce global warming could reduce the value of its assets, leaving some of its reserves stranded underground. The possibility that large quantities of the world's oil will never be developed due to the increase of renewable energy and the electrification of transport has been a growing worry for investors in the oil sector. Statoil, Norway's largest company, started stress testing its portfolio of oil and gas assets against global energy scenarios set out by the International Energy Agency (IEA) at shareholders' request in 2015.

LONDON/OSLO (Reuters) - Statoil is working with its partner SSE (SSE.L) to develop the Dogger Bank offshore wind project so it can take part in Britain's renewable energy subsidy auction in 2019, the company said on Friday. The planned 4.8 gigawatt (GW) Dogger Bank project, which has approval from the British authorities, is set to become the world's largest offshore wind park and could deliver more than five percent of Britain's electricity needs, Statoil Executive Vice President Irene Rummelhoff said in London.

AXA Investment Managers will vote in protest against companies which do not explain how they will boost the number of women on their boards, joining growing demands for workplace diversity. AXA IM, one of Europe's biggest fund managers and part of French insurer AXA Group (AXAF.PA), said the move followed five years of unsatisfactory private engagement with firms considered to have too few, if any, female decision-makers. "We are using our influence as investors through our engagement activities, to address this (diversity) in all markets, developed and emerging," Shade Duffy, Head of Corporate Governance, told Reuters.

ASA (STO) on Friday presented a range of environmental and performance targets for its next generation of projects. In a statement presented at its Socially Responsible Investor day, Statoil said its next-generation portfolio of oil-and-gas projects has a carbon dioxide intensity of three kilograms for each barrel of oil equivalent, 20% less than the current industry average and at an average break-even of $21 a barrel. Statoil has already proposed changing its name to Equinor at its annual general meeting on May 15 in order to support the company’s strategy.

At BP's massive Thunder Horse oil platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, a dog-sized robot called Maggie uses magnetic tracks to creep along pipes connecting the giant oil facility to the sea floor. Before MaggHD, dubbed "Maggie" by BP, the dangerous inspection job was reserved for highly paid specialist technicians who did their jobs while rappelling along the platform. The energy industry has turned to robots and drones to cut costs and improve safety in some of the world's tougher working environments.

At BP's massive Thunder Horse oil platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, a dog-sized robot called Maggie uses magnetic tracks to creep along pipes connecting the giant oil facility to the sea floor. Before MaggHD, dubbed "Maggie" by BP, the dangerous inspection job was reserved for highly paid specialist technicians who did their jobs while rappelling along the platform. The energy industry has turned to robots and drones to cut costs and improve safety in some of the world's tougher working environments.

A North Sea oil field named after a 19th century Norwegian prime minister could soon spark a shakeup in the Brent crude benchmark that prices oil around the world. The Johan Sverdrup field, about 87 miles west of Stavanger, Norway, is due to begin production in 2019 and could offer Brent a lifeline by boosting the volume of crude used to price it and making it more reflective of the wider market, analysts say. Falling output of the oil grades used to set Brent, and the small number of companies that produce it, has also raised concerns that the market is vulnerable to manipulation.